UK Tribunal Clears Merrill of Gender
Discrimination

December 22, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Merrill Lynch
has won a key UK sex discrimination case brought against it
by a former executive, who had accused the investment bank of
being "institutionally sexist" in a $14.6 million
lawsuit.

A UK employment tribunal found in Stephanie Villalba’s
favor on her claim of unfair dismissal, according to a
Reuters report. Tribunal chairman Mary Stacey said in the
ruling: “She was shabbily and unreasonably treated.”
According to Reuters, a Merrill Lynch spokesman pointed out
that the tribunal had also dismissed Villalba’s claims of
gender discrimination and unequal pay.

Villalba was removed in February 2003 from her position
as market executive for Europe in Merrill Lynch’s
international private client group. Villalba, who had a
17-year career at Merrill Lynch, claimed she was undermined
by her bosses and described the bank as “institutionally
sexist.”

The tribunal’s 78-page judgment upheld Villalba’s claim
of victimization on certain specific points, including
bullying e-mails relating to a golf contract and her
isolated position after she was put on administrative leave
from her post. But it dismissed Villalba’s allegation that
her boss Ausaf Abbas pushed her to leave and it found that
her dismissal was not on grounds of her gender.

Merrill had denied her accusations and argued that
Villalba lost her job because she was difficult to work
with and lacked leadership skills to turn around the
money-losing division she ran. The bank said in a
statement: “We said from the start that this case was about
performance not gender.” In the ruling, the tribunal said
it had not seen evidence of a “laddish culture” at Merrill
Lynch during the case.

The tribunal found her boss Abbas “insensitive and
arrogant” when he responded “My maid works hard” after
Villalba told him how hard she was working. Villalba had
claimed she was forced to sit in a stewardess’s seat on a
trip on a Merrill Lynch corporate jet and serve drinks to
male colleagues. But the tribunal said whoever had been
sitting in this seat whether male or female would have had
to serve the drinks.